Blackberry users in the UAE can continue to use their handsets after the country’s phone regulator and Research in Motion said the company’s messaging services now comply with local regulations.
In a statement on its website on Friday, the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority, which had threatened to ban the service over security concerns, said: “All BlackBerry services in the UAE will continue to operate as normal.” The regulator didn’t give further details of how the company and local wireless operators addressed the government’s concerns.
RIM said it continues to follow the principles for working with government officials it laid out in an August 12 statement and wouldn’t comment further on confidential regulatory matters. In that statement, RIM said it doesn’t do “special deals for specific countries” and there have been no changes to the security of its corporate email system.
In August, RIM said: “Contrary to any rumors, the security architecture is the same around the world and RIM truly has no ability to provide its customers’ encryption keys.”
RIM’s encryption technology has raised concerns in several countries that BlackBerry may be used for terrorist attacks or other illegal activity.
The UAE regulator’s decision, which averts a ban planned for October 11, comes after Saudi Arabia canceled a planned shutdown of BlackBerry service and the Indian government said it would push back a deadline to suspend BlackBerry service as it works toward a solution.
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